Category Archives: Holidays

It was good to see in a recent newsletter by Batya Wootten of the Messianic Israel Alliance that she is taking to task the anti-Christian spirit among many messianic/Hebrew Roots believers.

Such a spirit is a plague in the messianic movement. It breeds arrogance among entire congregations and destroys family relationships unnecessarily and separates messianics from the rest of the Body of Christ.

Here are some of the things that Wootten says in the email:

Even so, there is an anti-Christian spirit that runs amok in the Messianic movement – which sin is no more acceptable to the Almighty than is the sin of anti-Semitism. And, it is a sin that is keeping us from being able to properly tell of the whole powerful Passover story.

At this time, many Believers have walked away from the Messianic movement. They would rather walk away than fight to address its mistakes. One of the many reasons for their departure is that, in the hearts of millions of Christians, Easter has nothing to do with “Ishtar.” For them it is about the Resurrection of the Only Begotten Son of God. Moreover, they serve a God who first looks on the thoughts and intent of our hearts (1 Chronicles 29:17; Proverbs 21:2). And, when gentle people are told that their practices are “pagan,” most are afraid to, or do not bother to, speak up. They instead vote with their feet, and thus, our numbers dwindle. …

Therefore, it is time for us, those who supposedly “know better,” to look in the mirror and ask ourselves some serious questions: Has meanness in the Messianic movement driven potential converts away? Has hostility and a condemning attitude toward the Church led to us losing out on an incredible blessing?

The answer, as Wootten says, and I agree, is yes. I’ve even held that attitude myself in the past, but have repented of it.

One of my favorite and, yet, most stressful times of the year is here: The run-up to Passover, which begins this year at sunset April 6.

Passover is, of course, the Jewish holiday that commemorates God’s rescue of the people of Israel from bondage in Egypt. For messianics, it’s also the festival at which we commemorate the death and resurrection of the Messiah, which mainstream Christians remember with Holy Week and Easter. (This year, they all fall so as to reflect the Gospel accounts, with Passover starting on a Friday night.)

I’ve always loved Passover. A seder, the meal on the first night of Passover, was my first true Jewish experience. Maybe it was the food that cemented it for me. Unlike many people, I love matzah (unleavened bread) and avoid it the rest of the year so I can thoroughly enjoy it at Passover. Plus, you can’t go wrong with charoset, the apple-nut-honey mixture (there are variations) symbolizing the mortar with which the Israelites made bricks while slaves, and maror, the bitter herbs typically expressed in horseradish.

The Passover recipe page on our copy of a book about the Jewish holidays exposes my weakness for Passover: It’s stained with grape juice and encrusted with matzah meal.

And the smell! The kitchen itself rejoices over the smell of the food being cooked for the seder: chicken or brisket for the main course, matzah ball soup, macaroons, a lamb shank bone roasted in the oven earlier in the day to be placed on the seder plate, and whatever other concoctions we’ve decided on that year.

Then there’s the seder itself, the best meal of the year spiritually and physically, not just because of the food. It’s because we’re all dressed up in our Sabbath best, with the white table cloth in place and because as we read through the Haggadah, we are again reminded of God’s grace and mercy because of what He did for the Israelites and because of what He did for all mankind through Yeshua of Nazareth. He rescues us so we can have a relationship with Him, both in this life and in the world to come.

On the other hand, the weeks leading up to Passover are a stress because of the cleaning, the need to remove any leavened food from the house. That doesn’t just mean figuring out what’s got leaven in it and getting it out. It also means cleaning each room and the car. The bedrooms are pretty easy, the living room not so bad, but the kitchen and dining area are labor intensive. We live in a small house, so it’s not really as time-consuming as it could be, but if you want to do it right, you have to be detail-oriented, and that’s where the stress comes in for me.

Thankfully, with two of our children old enough to help meaningfully with the cleaning, it’s not as bad as it used to be. Plus, we’ve done this for so many years that it’s getting easier.

But, just like cleaning the sin out of our lives, getting the leaven out of the house reminds us that we answer to an Authority. Plus, we don’t want to be simply clean on the outside but filthy inside.

All of the spiritual and physical cleaning, though, is followed with the reminder at the seder that we are forgiven, despite our sinfulness and the fact that we don’t deserve any of it. We didn’t deserve to be delivered from Egypt, nor do we deserve to be forgiven of our infinite sinfulness.

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Messianic Covenant Community is selling a new haggadah, You Shall Tell Your Children, but be warned: It uses the alleged sacred name of God freely and also adjusts the blessings to be less traditionally Jewish.

It looks interesting mainly for the fact that it’s the one that the Scott Diffenderfer family (Scott’s the head of the MCC) created and updates. It looks like it’s rich in references to the Apostolic Scriptures and the messianic significance of the Passover feast. It’s also well-priced at only $3.49 per copy.

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It’s the afternoon of Friday, Sept. 17, just a few hours before Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement begins. I’m seeing more than one message come up on Twitter wishing folks a “Happy Yom Kippur.”

“Happy” is not the emotion that comes to mind when pondering Yom Kippur. Endurance, maybe. Hunger. Thirst. But mostly the prospect of facing my sinfulness for the next 24-plus hours.

However, we messianics have an ace in the hole: Messiah, who has paid the price for our sins.

Yes, we need to clean up our acts to be better disciples, to let our light shine better. But, Yom Kippur should in the end be a joyous time. It should, if nothing else, remind us of the price Yeshua paid for our sins and the fact that they are, through Him, forgiven by the Father.